Travel: A tale of two Dubais

What’s the biggest cliché that comes to your mind when you think of Dubai? Gold taps? Shopping festivals? Ice slopes in a desert? ‘Seven-star hotels’ and man-made islands? Or the world’s tallest, fastest, biggest of… everything? I’m of the Burj Al Arab generation who discovered Dubai in the early 2000s, long before the Burj Khalifa was constructed

What’s the biggest cliché that comes to your mind when you think of Dubai?

Snapshots from activities at Alserkal Avenue, a creative thinker’s space with an independent theatre, art house cinema, galleries and more (Angelo Aguilar)

Snapshots from activities at Alserkal Avenue (Angelo Aguilar)

From inviting graffiti artists from New York to exhibit their talent, Dubai now encourages homegrown talent to create a unique character

The lobby of the 25hours Hotel

Inside the Shiva temple in Bur Dubai

An Indian musical performance at Alserkal Avenue

Chef Mohd Orfali (above), of the Orfali Bros restaurant, where they serve dishes like pavlova

Chef Mohd Orfali’s pavlova

Chef Himanshu Saini of TresInd and his (right) confit duck in peanut butter curry